Reader Question: Correcting an Incorrect ISO Setting

Reader “K” asks, “Is there any way to fix or correct pictures that I shot at ISO 100 that should have been shot at 1600?! I went to a concert and got so caught up in just being there and up close and personal that I never even thought about my ISO! I’m sitting here going through them…I have looked everywhere to see if there’s anything to do to fix it, and I’m pretty much coming to the conclusion that DELETE is the answer for most of them!!!“

Bummer. Shooting at the wrong ISO setting is not an uncommon mistake…I know I’ve made it before! Anyway, the solution (if there is one) depends on what problems you see in your images.

Underexposed (Dark) Images

If you were calculating and setting your exposures manually, then your images are probably very underexposed (dark). If your calculations were really made using ISO 1600 as the planned ISO and your camera was set on ISO 100, then your images will be four stops underexposed. The Exposure slider in Lightroom will let you increase the exposure by up to four stops. Convenient, but not without a heavy price. Four stops is a long way to push a digital image, so we’ll probably see a great loss of detail and potentially extreme amounts of noise after increasing the exposure that much. Of course many digital cameras today have an almost unacceptable amount of noise at ISO 1600 anyway.

Try dragging the Exposure slider all the way to the right in Lightroom to see if you get the results you want. You may be able to reduce some noise with the Noise Reduction sliders in the Detail panel. This will definitely result in a softer image, however.

If you’ve shot in raw, you will definitely have more leeway than if you’d shot in JPEG. I would say that, unless it’s a photo of Bigfoot and Jimmy Hoffa riding the Loch Ness Monster, a four-stop underexposed JPEG is definitely a throw-away.

You can see the results of manipulating an image that was either under- or over-exposed by four stops by just using the Exposure slider in Lightroom. Click on the image for a larger view.

Correcting an under- or over-exposed image with the Exposure slider in Lightroom.

Of course, if you’re trying to get usable images, you’ll want to do more tweaking than I’ve done in the example above. All I did was drag the Exposure slider all the way to the right (+4) for the underexposed example and all the way to left (-4) for the overexposed example. It’s clear that, at least with my camera (Nikon D2X), there’s going to be more information available in an image that’s four stops underexposed than one that’s four stops overexposed. If you blow out those highlights, they’re usually gone.

Shutter Speed Too Slow (Blurry)

If your camera was set on some automatic exposure mode (Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, etc), then your shutter speed was probably set too slow and your images are blurry. This can result from either movement of the camera (camera shake) or the subject (dancing around the stage at the concert) or both.

There’s no fix for images that are blurry from camera shake or subject movement. Sometimes this movement can be a nice creative touch, but it usually has to be intentional to be useful.

The Sharpening sliders in Lightroom are simply for bringing definition to properly exposed and focused images…not for focusing unfocused ones.

A Checklist

I’m sure every photographer out there has forgotten a thing or two while shooting. There are lots of little (and big) things to remember to check on our cameras before we start.

Neil Chaput de Saintonge, Owner of Rocky Mountain School of Photography and long-time Photography Instructor, has come up with a handy little list of settings to check before and during a shoot. This list was featured in the April 2008 RMSP Newsletter.

So, here’s Neil’s take on preparing your camera for a photo shoot:

There’s a lot to do before heading out on a photo shoot, much of which is pretty intuitive: pack your camera and lenses, check your batteries, gather your gear. Even after years of photographing, I find there are so many things to set or check on the camera that I sometimes think I’m ready when I’m not. And the last thing I want to do is get home after a great day only to realize that my settings were wrong and my photos are sub-par. As such, I offer the following pre-shooting suggestions.

To Check the Day or Night Before the Shoot:

• Develop a shot list of all your photo ideas, as well as how you imagine shooting them. Sometimes I treat the shoot like a project—a mini assignment of sorts to formalize my preparations for and attitude about the outing.
• Format your memory cards, making sure that you “format” and do not “erase all.” It is also worth throwing a couple extra cards in your bag just in case.
• Charge all batteries and carry extras depending on the anticipated length/location of the shoot.
• Have a master list of everything that you need in your camera bag—I absolutely make sure to pack everything on this list the day or night before.
• If you will be downloading images while traveling, make sure that you have the proper gear. I carry a small Apple laptop, a card reader, and an external drive that uses its USB plug to draw power off my computer.

Important Camera Settings to Check Before Every Shoot:

• Exposure Mode. When I’m shooting in a simple exposure situation, I use aperture preferred or shutter preferred; if I’m shooting in a difficult or high-contrast situation, I use manual. These are the only three exposure modes that I use.
• Metering Mode. When using aperture-preferred or shutter-preferred settings, I use the camera’s smart meter mode, which with a Canon is called “evaluative” and with a Nikon is termed “matrix.” When in manual mode, I always use spot metering , or, if not available, I use what a few cameras call partial metering.
• Exposure Compensation. When shooting in aperture-preferred or shutter-preferred mode, exposure compensation may be very useful. Make sure that when you start your shoot the exposure compensation is set to zero. Then calculate your exposure and use this feature if needed.
• ISO. Keep as low as possible given light conditions to reduce noise and boost quality.
• White Balance. Auto white balance is fine for most situations but remember you can fine tune the color temperature of your scene using the white balance settings (shade, cloudy, tungsten, etc.) or learning to use custom-white balance in tricky light conditions.
• Image Quality. There may be occasions when you use large JPEGs for the ability to take more frames per second or more images per card. In other situations you may use RAW so you have larger images and more control over each image when processing. Either way, make sure that your image quality is on the appropriate setting for the shoot.
• Picture Style. Different picture styles, including portraiture, landscape and black and white, are available on many cameras today to mimic the look of film that photographers once used during these scenarios. Make sure that you are using the setting that you want.

Camera Settings to Check Occasionally:

• Drive Mode. Options include single shot, continuous shooting or self timer. Know what you want and set accordingly.
• Auto-Focus Mode. This setting assumes that either the subject is still or you are following actions, like at a sports event.
• Auto-Focus Point Selection. Most cameras come set on automatic focus point, meaning that the camera selects what it thinks the subject is. I recommend changing this to center auto focus point for most of your shooting.
• Focus Button Front/Back. Most cameras are set to focus with the same button that takes the exposure. I switch focus to the back of my camera (so that I can press it separately with my thumb) for 100 percent of my shooting to keep focus separate from exposure. On most cameras, there is a custom function to let you switch this—read your instruction manual.
• Highlight Tone Priority. This is a new technology that gives you one more stop of handling high contrast to keep highlights from washing out in high-contrast situations (like bright sun). Newer cameras are likely to have this feature, though it may be listed under a different name. Again, check your manual.
• Highlight Alert. This feature lets you know when highlights are washed out. After the photo has been taken, washed-out areas blink black in the image that appears on your camera’s display screen. This helpful (though sometimes annoying) option is available on most digital cameras.
• Mirror Lock Up. Most digital SLRs contain a mirror-lock up setting that helps eliminate camera shake when using a tripod. This is most important when using long lenses.
• Review Time. Most cameras come set with review time on 2 seconds, which is the amount of time you have to view your photos on the display screen before the image disappears. A good option is to set the review time to “hold” so that the image stays until you depress the shutter button half way. This is a very helpful setting to know about, as there are times when we want the image off completely to reduce distraction.

A Final Note on Settings: Many cameras have custom settings for different kinds of shoots—landscapes, portraits, etc.—so that you can set and save your own preferences. This is a great, time-saving alternative to reloading your favorite settings each time you shoot a specific composition/scenario.

Thanks for that, Neil! Very helpful! He’s even provided a handy PDF checklist that you can print out, laminate, and carry in your camera bag for reference.

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Filed Under: (12) FAQ • Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Tutorials

Tags: checklist • ISO • question